Many locals, however, are unhappy about the visit. For weeks now, state and federal authorities have locked antlers over who should be responsible for picking up the tab for the enormous security costs Bush's visit will entail. The state Interior Ministry estimates that security during Bush's three-day visit will set authorities back by €12 million. About 12,000 police will be needed to provide security when the president visits Rostock, Stralsund and the luxury Baltic Sea resort Heiligendamm, where Bush will spend the night. The state is arguing that Merkel's government, which invited Bush in the first place, should pay. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is plagued by high unemployment, a weak economy with little industry and it has severe financial problems. With state elections coming up this fall, there is little appetite for picking up millions of euros in expenses for a visit by a president most people here dislike.... http://service.spiegel.de

MEDFORD, Ore. The American Civil Liberties Union charges that the Secret Service and police in Jacksonville, Oregon, used unreasonable force to move some protesters away from a restaurant where President Bush was eating dinner.It happened during a Bush campaign appearance on October 16th, 2004. The president spoke at the local fairgrounds and then had dinner on the patio of an inn.Anti-Iraq war demonstrators say they had been told by police it would be O-K for them to protest, if they stayed on the sidewalk. Their class-action lawsuit contends that police, acting on orders from the Secret Service, moved some 200 war protesters, but let pro-Bush demonstrators stay on the sidewalk....http://www.katu.com/news/ap_story_national.asp?URL=http://localhost/apwirefeed/d8imva380.xml&NewsSection=BreakingNewsHeadlines

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's office today issued a release of the mayor's prepared testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's field hearing on federal immigration legislation. "Today, we remain a nation of immigrants," said Bloomberg. "People from around the world continue to come here seeking opportunity, and they continue to make America the most dynamic nation in the world. But it's clear we also have a problem on our hands our immigration laws are fundamentally broken. "It's as if we expect border control agents to do what a century of communism could not," continued Bloomberg, "defeat the natural market forces of supply and demand and defeat the natural human desire for freedom and opportunity. You might as well sit in your beach chair and tell the tide not to come in." Is he suggesting all laws that are broken be dropped? Because more people ignore or evade the IRS than there is Illegal Immigrants, so they should kill the IRS using that logic...http://www.govtech.net/localgovt/story.php?id=100081

TAMPA, Fla. A frightening incident on a New York to Florida flight, where passengers tackled another flier they say rammed the cockpit door.And it turns out the suspect is a U-S Army solider who served in Iraq.This happened last night on a Delta flight to Tampa, where an airport spokeswoman says the soldier is in custody. Authorities are using a state law that lets them hold someone without charges if they pose a threat....http://www.katu.com/news/ap_story_main.asp?URL=http://localhost/apwirefeed/d8in8t180.xml&NewsSection=BreakingNewsHeadlines

Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have rejected a Ugandan offer of amnesty ahead of peace talks next week. President Yoweri Museveni has promised to grant LRA leader Joseph Kony amnesty if he gives up what he described as "terrorism" by the end of July. But an LRA spokesman described the offer as "redundant", as all parties needed to be equal at negotiations. Mr Kony and four other commanders were indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes last year. The talks between the government and rebels are considered northern Uganda's best chance for peace in years. They are scheduled to take place on 12 July in the southern Sudanese town of Juba, and will be mediated by the south Sudan regional government. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5157220.stm

Spain has confirmed its first case of the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu. The virus was detected in a great crested grebe that was found dead in the northern province of Alava, the agriculture ministry said. The Spanish authorities said there was no reason for alarm, and that the case should not affect poultry consumption. H5N1 has spread to birds in many European countries. The virus has killed more than 130 people since 2003 - mostly in East Asia. Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said the case was "strictly veterinary" and would not affect people. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5158162.stm